Pope prays for Chinese Catholics, talks about loving one’s enemies

Archbishop Charles Chaput, left, and Franciscan Father Thomas Betz, coordinator of the Chinese Apostolate at Holy Redeemer Parish in Philadelphia, participate in the crowning of a statue of Mary May 19 at Holy Redeemer. At center, young parishioners Kaelon Soto (left) and Karissa Jung walk in procession after the crowning. Catholics in the Philadelphia Archdiocese were invited to pray for Catholics in China on May 24, the day of Our Lady Help of Christians, to which Chinese Catholics have a devotion. (Sarah Webb)

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the face of difficulty, it’s natural to hope just to get by, but being Christian means patiently enduring trials and overcoming oppression with love, Pope Francis said at a Mass that included special prayers for China.

During the Mass May 24, Pope Francis concluded the prayers of the faithful with an invocation “for the noble Chinese people, that the Lord would bless them and the Blessed Mother keep them.”

The day’s feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians is a feast close to the hearts of millions of Chinese Catholics and is the day Pope Benedict XVI designated as a worldwide day of prayer for Catholics in China.

Joining Pope Francis for the early morning Mass May 24 in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae were Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and several Chinese priests, seminarians and nuns. They sang a Marian hymn in Chinese at the end of the Mass.

Staff of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications also attended the Mass.

In his homily, Pope Francis spoke about the special God-given grace of being able not just to survive difficulties, but to carry them aloft and continue one’s journey.

“It is not easy, because discouragement comes and you feel like lowering your arms and saying, ‘Oh come on, we’ll do what we can but nothing more,’ a bit like that. But, no, endurance is a grace, and we must ask for it in the midst of difficulty.”

While there may be many ways to overcome difficulty and end oppression, “the grace we ask for today is the grace of a victory through love, by means of love,” he said. “This isn’t easy when we have enemies outside who make us suffer a lot; it’s not easy to win with love.”

Getting revenge is a natural temptation, he said, but Christians must follow the example of Jesus — “that is the victory.”

“Our faith is precisely believing in Jesus, who taught us love and teaches us to love everyone,” Pope Francis said. “The proof that we are acting in love is when we pray for our enemies.”

Those who do not pray for and forgive their enemies are “defeated Christians,” he said. “How many sad, discouraged Christians do we see because they did not have this grace of enduring with patience and vanquishing with love?”

The pope prayed that Our Lady, Help of Christians would intercede to give all Catholics the grace of endurance and love.